Pedestrian, formerly PEDESTRIAN.TV, is a youth

digital news Digital News was a trade publication that focused on products from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). History They published independently from 1986 thru 1992. At that point, they were acquired and merged with '' Digital Review'' with the new ...

and

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

website based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, which has existed since 2005. It is owned by Pedestrian Group, a company created by

Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brandi ...

in 2018 after buying out PEDESTRIAN.TV and merging it with

Allure Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

, three years after acquiring a majority share in PEDESTRIAN.TV. Pedestrian Group owns Pedestrian (the website) as well the Australian brands Vice Media (Australia), '' Business Insider Australia'', '' Gizmodo AU'',

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 i ...

, ''

Lifehacker Australia ''Lifehacker'' is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on January 31, 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is currently owned by G/O Media. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including: Microsoft ...

'', ''

Kotaku Australia ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

'', Pedestrian JOBS, and Openair Cinemas.

History

Launched in 2005 by co-founders Chris Wirasinha and Oscar Martin, Pedestrian.TV was initially distributed as a DVD magazine, stylised as a "Plastizine", with the

advertorial An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term "advertorial" is a blend (see portmanteau) of the words "advertisement" and "editorial." Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946. In printed publications, t ...

backing of

BMW Mini Mini (stylised as MINI) is a British automotive marque founded in 1969, owned by German automotive company BMW since 2000, and used by them for a range of small cars assembled in the United Kingdom, Austria and the Netherlands. The word Mi ...

. In 2007, the company shifted online, launching the Pedestrian.TV site. In 2010, the company launched sub-site Pedestrian JOBS; a creative industries-focused employment classifieds board. Nine Entertainment Co. subsequently acquired a 60% stake in Pedestrian.TV in 2015 for a reported $10 million. Nine bought out Wirasinha and Martin's remaining 40% ownership share in 2018 for an additional $39 million, putting the company's total valuation just shy of $100 million. In 2017 Pedestrian.TV broke the story of youth government broadcaster

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

's initial internal discussions regarding moving the

Triple J Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the y ...

away from the controversial January 26

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

public holiday. Triple J ultimately shifted the Hottest 100 date to the fourth weekend in January, citing a desire to remain "an event that ''everyone'' can enjoy together." Following the merger of Nine and

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

in 2018, the business behind Pedestrian.TV was merged with that of

, forming the larger Pedestrian Group, with the website changing its name to Pedestrian, and also incorporating the brands ''Business Insider Australia'', ''Gizmodo'', Kotaku and POPSUGAR Australia. It was announced that it would continue to be run by its founders. With Wirasinha and Martin shifting to advisory roles following the sale, Nine appointed Matt Rowley as the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Pedestrian Group in early 2019. Also in 2019, Pedestrian acquired Openair Cinemas (formerly

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

Openair Cinemas, which arranged outdoor showings of films in open spaces across Australia and New Zealand). According to audience data in September 2019, the website reached over one million

unique user Website popularity is commonly determined using the number of unique users, and the metric is often quoted to potential advertisers or investors. A website's number of unique users is usually measured over a standard period of time, typically a m ...

s per month, and attracted in excess of two million monthly page views. PopSugar was still part of the group in September 2019, but appears to have been dropped by March 2022. In March 2021, Pedestrian Group announced a multi-year deal with

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); V ...

and

to become the Australian digital publishing home of both brands. A new team was announced for Refinery29 later that year, and in January 2022 a new team of five, headed by Brad Esposito, was announced to head up Vice Australia and New Zealand.

Description

Pedestrian is based in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. the Pedestrian Group owns Pedestrian and the Australian brands Vice Media (Australia), '' Business Insider Australia'', '' Gizmodo AU'',

, ''

'',

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

, Pedestrian JOBS, and Openair Cinemas.

Key people

Matt Rowley is CEO of Pedestrian Group (), while Vanessa Lawrence is Publisher ().

Awards

Pedestrian.TV was awarded Brand of the Year by Mumbrella in 2015, 2016, and also 2020, with Pedestrian Group winning three other Mumbrella awards, for Best Publisher-Led Advertising Campaign, Event of the Year, and Branded Content Studio of the Year in the same year.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2005 establishments in Australia Internet properties established in 2005 Australian news websites Australian entertainment websites Nine Entertainment